Lucknow: India has formally inaugurated its first road made of sugarcane molasses as an alternative to bitumen. This technology innovation has fetched positive results from the trial purpose conducted on a western Uttar Pradesh road portion, reports The Times Of India.
Experts from IIT Roorkee developed the bio bitumen which was used to construct a 650-metre section of the national highway connecting Muzaffarnagar to Shamli. This is the first such experiment in the country. The road section, constructed in November 2022, was evaluated recently and it has shown promising results after withstanding the monsoon season.
Known as bio bitumen, it allows for up to 30% of the molasses to replace traditional asphalt binder without reducing durability or shelf life.
The MoRTH and PWD in Uttar Pradesh have taken note of the successful trial run on NH 709 AD which connects Panipat to Khatima highway. The ministry now plans to identify more sections where this formula can be experimented further before its standard substitution with bio bitumen.
